Mining

The Australia Institute released new research showing Adani is not “ready to go” with its Carmichael coal mine and there are a number of significant reasons why Adani is not ready to proceed with its mine.

“One thing that can be said with certainty about the Adani coal mine is that whether it goes ahead or not will make almost no difference to the high levels of unemployment in Queensland," said Richard Denniss, Chief Economist at the Australia Institute.

It’s now 12 years (and seven prime ministers) since John Howard promised to introduce a price on carbon and – despite emissions having increased to a new high and a number of big coal fired power stations having shut down – Australia still doesn’t have anything approaching a coherent climate and energy policy.

Documents obtained by the Australia Institute shows that mining is experiencing a crisis in public trust among Queenslanders, with coal mining particularly unfavourable.

The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) commissioned polling company Ipsos to conduct this research on the industry's reputation because it has observed a “decline in positive (public) sentiment” about the QLD resource sector, and can see that “extending to governments with political support” and are “worried about reputation of QLD resources sector” overall.

The electorate of Herbert stands to be heavily impacted by climate change. Increasing floods, drought and heatwaves will impact the community’s health, environment, infrastructure and vital industries, particularly agriculture and mining unless decisive action is taken to tackle climate change

New research released today by The Australia Institute finds that a coal project proposed near Kingaroy, Queensland, should be rejected by policy makers on economic grounds.

The report finds that the project is unlikely to be economically viable, faces huge barriers in getting coal to market and would adversely impact key local industries.

“The Kingaroy economy is focused on services and agriculture. A major coal project would work against existing industries and the local government’s stated plans for the future,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director at The Australia Institute and co-author of the report.

A coal project proposed near Kingaroy, Queensland, is unlikely to provide benefit in a local economy based on services and agriculture. It imposes uncertainty and costs on other industries and the community. Policy makers should rule the project out on economic grounds.

So far in 2018, there have been 27 major breakdowns at gas and coal power stations in NSW. Every coal power station experienced at least one breakdown. The Tallawarra gas power station experienced three breakdowns. Aging plants Liddell and Vales Point experienced the most breakdowns.

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The Australia Institute is the country’s most influential progressive think tank. We conduct research on a broad range of economic, social and environmental issues in order to inform public debate and bring greater accountability to the democratic process.